Devil Kings
Devil Kings, known in Japan as Sengoku BASARA (戦国BASARA), is a action strategy video game developed and first published on July 21, 2005 by Capcom for PlayStation 2. It is the first game in the Sengoku BASARA series. The sequel, Sengoku BASARA 2, was released only in Japan 2006. BASARA would not be localized again until the third main entry in the series, Sengoku BASARA: Samurai Heroes, in 2010. Art was done by Makoto Tsuchibayashi, known for his work on Devil May Cry. Gameplay It is a hack and slash, action game similar in concept to Koei's Samurai Warriors and Capcom's Devil May Cry. Some significant gameplay changes were made to the Western versions of the game. Four of the characters were made non-playable and various weapons were removed or added. The difficulty levels were shifted to make the game more difficult (with Easy becoming the Japanese Normal and Normal becoming the Japanese Hard). The fighting system was also modified, adding an element called "Prime Attack" (one of the characters special attack was made the priming attack, and used that attack to "Prime" enemies making them more susceptible to damage and allowing for higher combo chains). Characters .]] The names of the characters (including the game's title) were changed when the game was originally released in North America and Europe. The names in parentheses are the American initial release names. Playable * Masamune Date - (a.k.a. Azure Dragon) * Yukimura Sanada - (a.k.a. Scorpio) * Tadakatsu Honda - (a.k.a. Iron Ox) * Shingen Takeda '''- (a.k.a. '''Red Minotaur) * Kasuga - (a.k.a. Venus) * Xavi '''- (a.k.a. '''Q-Ball) * Toshiie Maeda - (a.k.a. Lark) * Sasuke Sarutobi - (a.k.a. Talon) * Nobunaga Oda - (a.k.a. Devil King) * Kenshin Uesugi - (a.k.a. Frost) * Nōhime - (a.k.a. Lady Butterfly) * Matsu Maeda - (a.k.a. Bramble) * Mitsuhide Akechi - (a.k.a. Reaper) * Yoshihiro Shimazu - (a.k.a. Zaan) * Ranmaru Mori - (a.k.a. Hornet) * Itsuki - (a.k.a. Puff) Non-playable * Ieyasu Tokugawa - (a.k.a. Irdene) * Motochika Chōsokabe - (a.k.a. Arslan) * Motonari Mōri - (a.k.a. Kahz) * Yoshimoto Imagawa - (a.k.a. Muri) * Ujimasa Hōjō - (a.k.a. Orwik) Development Differences One of the differences that is most notable is the names. Devil Kings does not use any reference to the Sengoku era of Japan whatsoever. Producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi originally decided to make the gameplay of Sengoku BASARA similar to the gameplay of Koei's Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors but with a Devil May Cry stylish factor to make it different. For the Western release of Devil Kings, Kobayashi wanted to make it different again by giving the game a "darker" look. Devil Kings takes place in a "devilish" world as opposed to the original Feudal Japan theme. Devil Kings features "Prime" attacks, which slightly weakens the enemy for a short time, and makes them more vulnerable to more damage. The "Prime" attacks in Devil Kings cause the enemy health bar to turn yellow and is necessary for filling up the BASARA Gauge. Most characters' "Prime" attacks were originally "Special Skills" in Sengoku BASARA. Some of the armies in Devil Kings do not even look like samurai. Devil King (Nobunaga)'s army looks like an army of black knights, Reaper (Mitsuhide)'s army look like winged demons with a "bat out of hell" kind of look, and Orwik (Ujimasa)'s army looks like the ancient egyptians with animal helmets and gold and blue colors. The names of the battles have changed as well. It is unknown what the exact names were in Sengoku BASARA, but the battles were based off historic times. The following are some historic battle and their name changes in Devil Kings: *Battle of Mikatagahara - Storm on the Great Plains *Battle of Kawanakajima - Battle at Riverglen, Ruse at Riverglen *Honnoji Incident - Twisted High Temple, Fall of the High Temple *Battle of Okehazama - Ambush at Shadow Gorge *Battle at Nagashino - Deadwood Counteroffensive *Invasion of Shikoku - Landing at Nanvia *Siege of Takamatsu - Flooding Giuthas Nam *Battle at Hitadori Bridge(?) - Chase at the Tablelands *Kyushu Campaign - Leveling Kush *Battle of Yamazaki - Crossing the River Styx *Siege of Odawara - Siege of Dark Spire *Anegawa Dividing Battle - Divide and Conquer Faylinn Trivia *When the Rally Pipe is equipped, the Devil May Cry theme music "Lock and Load" is heard during battle. Gallery Box Art Image:BASARAJapan.png|''Japan'' Image:BASARA_Japanese_Cover_Art.png|Japanese cover art (textless) Image:DevilKingsCoverScan.png|''U.S.'' Image:DevilKingsEurope.png|''Europe'' Merchandise Image:BASARA_Artbook.png|''Artbook'' Image:BASARA_Guidebook.png|''Guidebook'' Image:SengokuBasaraManga1.png|''Manga'' Vol. 1 Image:SengokuBasaraManga2.png|''Manga'' Vol. 2 Image:SengokuBasaraManga3.png|''Manga'' Vol. 3 External Links * Official Japanese website * Wikipedia article * ''Sengoku BASARA'' wikia article Category:Games Category:Sengoku BASARA Games Category:Strategy Games Category:Action Games Category:Historical Games Category:PlayStation 2 Games Category:2005 video games